


Project F.E.A.R

by AverageMarvelBitch



Series: Stony Shorts [13]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Based on F.E.A.R, Based on Resident Evil, Blood, F/M, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, M/M, Mind Control, Mutants, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-09-27 13:50:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20408797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AverageMarvelBitch/pseuds/AverageMarvelBitch
Summary: A Top Secret US Military Base has been attacked by an enhanced female. Without much choice, Secretary of Defense, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, stuck inside a protected room with his Chief Scientist, sends a SOS to Avengers Headquarters, asking for help.The Avengers arrive not much later, ready to neutralize the threat and save Ross and his soldiers. But something feels wrong and the truth is not always what it seems. As they explore the island, they start to put the pieces of the puzzle together.





	1. PROLOGUE

He should’ve known something like this would happen. He should’ve seen the signs.

First, there was Private Johnson. Good kid, good soldier. He was an overall happy person, his roommates said. Funny, optimistic, always making sure everyone was okay. Which was why it was so weird when Private Smith found him in his room one morning, a gun still on his hand and pieces of his brain mixed in with the blood that covered his once white sheets. Suicide, they had ruled. Strange, but not impossible, after all, the secrecy and isolation required for this mission could take a dangerous toll on some of the more weak minded soldiers. So they sent his body back, gave his family enough money to make sure they’d keep quiet and simply moved on.

But, as Thaddeus Ross would later find out, that had been just the beginning.

Soon, more strange things started to happen. There was Lieutenant Wilton, who electrocuted himself while making repairs, even though he was one of the best engineers they had. Major Baldwin, who pressed the wrong button and ended up severely hurting five soldiers in a training exercise. But it was only after Dr. Kudrow accidentally poisoned herself after simply forgetting of putting on her mask before dealing with some very dangerous poisons that Ross truly started to think that maybe, _maybe_, something was amiss in the facility. And by then it was already too late.

He was talking to Dr. Connely about the recent events when the alarm went off.

“What the hell is happening now, Private?”

“I don’t know, sir”, the younger man replied, looking at the big screens around them, trying to find the culprit.

“My God, look”, Dr. Connely said, pointing at one of the screens.

They watched, confused and horrified, as the soldiers, one by one, started killing themselves. A knife through the eye, a bullet in the head. Some turned their own guns against themselves, others simply dropped their weapons and started hitting their heads on the walls as hard as they could.

“What on god’s name is happening?”, Ross whispered to himself.

“There’s something over there”, one of the Privates said, pointing at another screen.

The corridor it showed was painted with blood and filled with the bodies of fallen soldiers. A shadow like creature suddenly stepped into view. It walked slowly, seemingly unaffected by the carnage surrounding her. It stopped in the middle of the corridor and looked around before making an unusual gesture with its hand. The bodies around it then started to move. Slowly, the got on their knees and then on their feet, as if nothing had happened, as if they’d been merely waking from an afternoon nap.

“It’s the girl”, Dr. Connely said, looking at Ross, “It has to be”.

“Close down that facility NOW”, Ross shouted to the Privates and they immediately did so, “Activate the Panic Room Protocol here and contact the other facilities, quickly now”.

“What about the soldiers, sir?”

“They are the best damn soldiers we have. They’ll stop her”, Ross said with a confidence he didn’t really feel at the moment.

“She’s…She’s controlling them”, the Dr. commented, taking a step closer to the monitor, “My God, Thaddeus, she’s turning the dead into marionettes!”

“Sir, we can’t get into contact with the other facilities. They’re not responding”, the Private said just as the radio came to life.

“_Ross, are you there?”_

“This is Ross, what’s your status, Lawrence?”, the secretary promptly asked.

There was silence. And then Lawrence giggled.

“_You sound worried, Mr. Secretary. Are you scared?”_

Dr. Connely looked at Ross, horrified, mouthing ‘it’s her’.

“_I’m going to rip your hearts out”, _the man whispered manically, giggling before the line was cut.

“DAMN IT”, Ross screamed, punching the table in front of him.

“Sir, look”, the Private said, typing something on his computer, making the small screen bigger, “They look fine”.

The people in the screen looked fine, indeed. No head wounds, no blood. The taller man, Lawrence, was standing there, as was everyone else, the radio still in his hand. It looked like the weirdest game of statues.

“She’s controlling them all. Ross, what do we do?”

“We’ll be fine here”.

“FINE? She can control people! I’m surprised she hasn’t controlled US yet!”

“She won’t be able to control us because this room is sealed with magic”.

“MAGIC?” Dr. Connely asked, outraged.

“A sorcerer, much like Stephen Strange, used his magic to protect this room. She cannot control us, she cannot come through the doors. We’re safe here”.

“For now. We can’t stay here forever. You need to call them”.

Ross turned back to the doctor, looking livid. “This is a secret facility, Dr. Connely. Do you really expect me to bring them here? To show them what we’ve done? Do you think Bruce Banner will agree with what was done here? Do you think Steve Rogers will?”

“She is beyond dangerous”, the doctor insisted, not in the least scared of facing his superior, “Right now, she is out there, killing every single man and woman in this island. What if she escapes? Your little soldiers can do nothing against her! The Avengers are the only ones that can stop her now. CALL THEM”.

Ross squeezed the radio in his hand, almost breaking it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn’t want to admit it, but the doctor was right.

“Send an SOS to Avengers Headquarters”, he told the private, who nodded, busying himself with his computer, “Give them our location and tell them we have a super powered female with telepathic powers. Tell them she can control minds so they’ll need to be prepared”.

“Done, sir”, the private said a few minutes later.

“And now?”

“Now we wait”, the secretary replied, sitting on one of the chair nearby, feeling older than he ever had before, “now we wait, doctor”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers arrive at the island.

“Secure channel seven”.

“Seven is secure”, Natasha replied, pressing the device in her ear.

“Does everyone have their…”

“Magical friendship bracelets?” Clint asked, putting his hand up and showing the Captain the weird looking watchband in his wrist, “Yep, got them”.

Steve ignored Clint’s joke. “What do we know about the target?”

“Enhanced female with telepathic powers. No knowledge as to why she attacked the base or how she got there”, Natasha replied, checking her widow bites to make sure they were working properly.

“Are we really sure these are going to work?” Bruce asked, looking at his own bracelet again.

“Dr. Strange said they would. He’s the Sorcerer Supreme; he must know a thing or two”.

“And if that Harry Potter knockoff is wrong, well then, we’ll probably be dead or mind controlled. Both are equally bad in my book”, Clint replied with a shudder.

“We’re ready, Captain”, Tony said as the faceplate came down on his face, “Need a lift?”

Steve smiled and nodded, putting his shield on his back and stepping on the engineer’s feet, holding the small hooks that Tony had put in the armor especially for this. He closed his eyes and felt the wind hitting his face. He buried his head on Tony’s neck, hiding it until they finally landed.

“Thanks”, he said, stepping away from Iron Man.

The faceplate went up and Tony smiled at him. “No problem, Cap”.

Widow and Hawkeye landed close by a few seconds later, the blue light of the repulsor in the parachute slowly dying out.

“How come _he_ gets the lift?”

“Jealous, Birdie?” Tony asked in a suggestive tone.

“Wouldn’t mind a joy ride once in a while is all I’m saying”.

“Bruce, can you hear me?” Natasha interrupted them, checking the feed.

_“Loud and clear. I’ll be standing by for a Code Green”_, the scientist replied.

“Good. We’ll keep you posted”, Steve replied. He looked around, examining the beach where they’d landed.

The island looked almost abandoned, which was weird considering it was a still active military base. From their position at the beach, they could see a radio tower far ahead and, on their left, a long staircase with a big building at its end.

“We should check all the buildings”, Natasha commented, “And look for survivors”.

Steve suddenly felt a warm sensation around his wrist. He looked down and saw the bracelet Strange had given them emitting a shy, orange light for a moment and then going back to normal once more. The Avengers exchanged a worried look.

“Well, at least we know it works, right?” Clint asked, seeming not very sure of his own words.

Tony blasted the gate open with a repulsor beam, making Clint jump a foot up in the air. “Let’s go. The sooner we find Sabrina the Witch, the sooner we can leave this place”.

They walked up the stairs in uncharacteristic silence. Steve and Tony walked ahead while Natasha and Clint stayed a few feet behind them, bow and gun at the ready, in case someone decided to attack. After a long walk, they finally arrived at the building. Steve pressed the button near the gate, but nothing happened.

“They probably put it on lockdown, to keep the woman out. JARVIS, can you override this for us?”

_It’ll be my pleasure, sir. _The AI replied.

The gate soon opened and the team stepped inside into what appeared to be an empty reception. Clint lowered his bow and put the arrow back into his quiver.

“No corpses. That’s good, right?”

Natasha put her gun back in its holster and started investigating the area while Tony hacked the computer nearby.

“It doesn’t look like there was a struggle. It just looks like they left in a hurry”.

“Not exactly in a hurry”, Tony replied, looking at the computer screen, “Look, they just got up and started walking”.

Steve put his hand on the table and got closer to the screen. “They were being mind controlled”, he whispered in awe.

“Got it in one, Cap”.

“Can you find out where they went?”

Tony turned his attention back to the screen, typing away for a few seconds. “No can do. The feed is being blocked by something”.

“The woman?” Clint asked, curious.

“Unless her super powers include amazing computer skills, then no”, Tony replied with a sigh, “JARVIS, keep at it. See if you can bypass whatever security they have here. We need more information”.

_Certainly, sir._

“We should keep looking. Come on”.

The team searched every floor and every room of the building for what seemed like hours and finally managed to find the missing soldiers in Conference Room B. Clint and Steve walked in first, shield and bows at the ready, and quickly lowered them when they saw the people inside.

“Captain America!”, a woman sitting closer to them said, getting up. Soon, others started to do the same.

The Avengers looked around, confused.

“They all seem fine, what the hell?” Clint whispered to Natasha.

“No need to panic, everyone, we’re here to deal with the threat”.

The workers exchanged a very confused look amongst themselves and turned their heads back to Iron Man.

“We’re safe here. As long as we stay here, we’re safe”, the woman replied in a soothing tone.

“Ma’am?” Cap inquired.

“She doesn’t want to hurt us. We didn’t know. So we just need to stay here until it’s over”, a man said, sitting back down and turning his eyes back to the front of the room.

“Until what’s over?” Cap asked once more, but the workers seemed to have grown tired of them. They all slowly sat down again, staring ahead as if in a trance.

“She’s controlling them”.

“Why, though?” Clint asked, closing the door behind him as they left the room, “Why would she make them do this? Just stay there, sitting comfortably in an air conditioned room?”

“Did you hear what he said as well?” Steve inquired, crossing his arms, “He basically said she spared them because they didn’t know. Didn’t know what?”

“Brucie Bear, you heard all that?”

_“Yeah, I did”_, the scientist replied and then hesitated before continuing, _“There’s something you should know. Back when I was hired by the Defense Department to create the Gamma Bomb, most soldiers stationed at the base didn’t know what was happening. It was a top secret project. Very few people had any knowledge about it”._

“You’re thinking something similar is happening here”.

_“I’m thinking we’re in an island located as far from civilian populations as possible, in a super secret military facility overseen by Thunderbolt Ross. I don’t want to make assumptions here, but the stories are awfully similar”._

They stood there for a moment in complete silence before Natasha finally spoke.

“Let’s move to the next building. Whatever happened, we need to neutralize the target before anyone else gets hurt”.

The others quickly agreed.

They exited the building in silence, constantly checking the perimeter to make sure nothing was amiss, and made their way to next facility, through a short path between tall trees and a lot of grass.

“This can’t be a military base”, Steve murmured as he slipped for the third time.

“Why’s that?”

“I was IN the army, Shellhead. I know about army regulations and they’re definitely breaking at least a dozen of them”.

“Let’s hope army regulations are the only laws they’re breaking here”, Natasha said from the front, leading the team into the pathway.

The next building looked very similar to the last one, the only exception being a small plaque beside the door that said _Science Division A_.

“Can you hack the gates open?”

“No one says hack anymore, Birdie”, Tony complained halfheartedly.

_Sir, I’m afraid I am unable to override the protocols in this particular building at this moment. It will take me some time to succeed with the task. Shall I begin?_

“How long, J.?”

_At least two hours, sir. I apologize, but the security system in this facility is beyond any other I have encountered._

“You know what that means, right? That’s where they keep the really freaky stuff”, Barton said, crossing his arms.

“What now?” Steve asked with a frown, “You think you could blast the gates open…”

But he never finished his sentence for, in that moment, the gates suddenly, and slowly, opened, granting the Avengers passage inside.

“J., was that you?”

_I’m afraid not, sir._

“Shit”, Barton whispered under his breath, taking his bow in his hands once more and getting ready for a fight.

Iron Man and Captain America exchanged a worried look. Tony dropped the faceplate just as Steve grabbed his shield from his back.

“Widow, Hawkeye, walk behind us and keep your eyes open. We’re going in”.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: some gore and explicit descriptions.

There was blood everywhere, on the walls, on the furniture, on the floor, but no bodies. Steve could hear the wet, squishy sound of his boots every time he took a step, the metallic smell filling his nostrils, making him grimace. With his Shield still up and ready to face any threats that might appear, he walked alongside Tony, and followed closely by Natasha and Clint, until they were in the middle of the big, well-lit lounge.

“I’m guessing the people from _this_ building knew something”, Clint whispered to Natasha.

“Where are the bodies, though?” Steve asked, slightly lowering his shield, “There’s enough blood here to fill a big water tank, but no corpses. It doesn’t make sense”.

“Over here”, Tony called them, touching the wall in front of him with interest before taking a step back. He raised his hand, emitting a red light that slowly covered the wall before disappearing again.

_Scans completed. There appears to be an elevator behind the wall. The control panel is on your right, sir, and it requires a keycard._

“Got it”, Clint called, fishing a blue keycard from the floor and carrying it towards Tony with his arm stretched in front of him while he murmured _ew ew ew_ under his breath. He passed the bloody keycard on the wall, right where Jarvis had said the control panel was, and immediately dropped it when said wall started to slowly move to the sides.

“So… I’m guessing we’re going down. And not in the fun way”, Tony said, stepping inside the pristine looking elevator.

“Great. First, the door opens by itself, now we’re going _underground_. Yeah, great plan, kudos”, Clint complained, but still followed his friends into the elevator.

A soft melody started to play as soon as the doors closed. The Avengers stood there, awkwardly, as they descended. Finally, after almost a minute had passed, the doors opened again.

“Well, I guess now we know where the bodies are”, Clint commented, trying to sound light but not quite managing it.

There were six bodies on the floor, all torn to pieces; arms and legs laid around in pools of blood, and heads smashed in. The whole scene was enough to make even Steve gag. He took his eyes from the violent scene on the floor and looked around, just noticing the weird blood marks on the walls, as if the victims had been slammed from one side of the room to the other until their heads cracked and their limbs came apart like they were nothing more than some poorly made ragdolls.

There were three corridors, each one with a small, silver plaque. The first one, the one right across the elevator, said _Training_. The other two, left and right respectively, said _Labs_ and _Rooms_.

“We should split up, we’ll cover more ground like that”, Natasha suggested, very clearly trying to ignore the scene in front of her.

“Good idea”, Tony agreed.

“Excuse me? Hold the fuck up, Mystery Inc.”, Clint said, raising his hands to his chest as if surrendering, “Have you guys never watched a fucking horror movie in your lives? You don’t split up, that’s rule number two!”

“What’s rule number one?”

“Don’t walk inside if the door opened by itself”, he replied with a pointed look.

Natasha simply rolled her eyes and took Clint by the collar of his suit, “We’ll go check the Rooms. You two check the Labs and we’ll meet back here. Got it?”

Tony saluted her while Steve nodded and so, both groups set off on their quests to find survivors… and maybe also find out what the fuck was going on in that island.

* * *

Steve and Tony checked each room, one by one, and found nothing but blood, bodies and broken equipment. There was glass on the floor, from the destroyed windows and flasks, and in some rooms the mixture of chemicals on the floor produced such a bad, strong smell that Steve had to wait outside while Tony checked the room for anything important. There were burnt marks on the walls and floor and even on some of the corpses. It was a gruesome scene.

It took them a good few minutes to finally arrive at the last room, at the end of the long corridor. This room, unlike the others, was much more spacious and less destroyed. There were bodies scattered around, much like everywhere else they’ve been, with their eyes wide and unseeing, making for a very unsettling scene. Steve and Tony walked in, side by side, looking around, trying to find anything of importance.

“There’s a computer”, Steve said, pointing to the machine. Tony quickly walked over to it and started typing.

“Shit, same encryption as the door, I’m guessing”.

“You can’t hack it?”

Tony threw him a look at the word _hack_, but didn’t say anything, merely shook his head with a sigh.

Suddenly, something started to move, or, better said, someone.

“Holy shit”, Tony swore, getting up from the chair and away from the computer. Instinctively, Steve stepped forward and raised his shield in front of himself and Iron Man. The corpse, however, paid them no mind. It simply started moving, slowly at first, as if its limbs were too rigid, and got up on its two legs, turning its head towards them. There was a big whole in its head, its eye still hanging from the socket, swinging slightly as it walked, one stiff step at a time. It stopped in front of the computer Tony had been using seconds before and started typing something.

The two men exchanged a quick look of disbelief before turning their attentions back to the animated corpse in front of them. There was a _ping_ sound. The corpse, then, took a few steps away from the computer and, when it was far enough from it, let itself fall to the ground and there it stayed, moving no longer.

“Holy shit, what the fuck was that?”

“Language”, Steve replied absentmindedly, earning a snort from his teammate.

Tony walked closer to the computer once again, sitting in the chair and making a disgusted face when he saw the blood on the keyboard. Still, he started typing once more, opening files just as Steve stood right behind him.

“Whoever this girl is, I’m guessing she really wants us to read some files”, he said, looking for answers.

Steve huffed, “Yeah. I have a bad feeling about all this”.

Tony stopped typing and turned slightly, looking at Steve with a raised eyebrow, “We’re in a super-secret lab surrounded by mutilated corpses… I’d be worried if you _didn’t_ have a bad feeling about this, Cap”.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Just find us something to explain all this, Tony”.

The engineer spent a good few minutes on the computer before crying out in victory.

“Check this out, Cap…”, he said, opening a folder that contained several documents, “Subject 04, male, 34 years old, 8 days”.

“Eight days?”

“There are some videos, let me just…”

_Day 8.avi_

_The room was entirely white and almost empty, saved for a bed and a small nightstand. A tall, built man was lying on the bed, reading a book. He was wearing a white tank top, grey pants and some dog tags. He looked completely at ease, focused on his book. For a few minutes, that was all he did. _Feeling impatient, Tony skipped a few minutes on the video. _The man continued to lie there, reading. He shook his head once, twice, and then screamed, putting his hands on each side of his head. He screamed and screamed, begging for help, and then started to slam his head against the wall. Suddenly, two more men walked inside the small room, trying to stop him. The man took the gun from one of them, shot them both on the head and then shot himself. The video ended there._

“Did he…?”

Tony nodded. “Listen to this… ‘The procedure was successful… Only three hours until full recovery… Subject appears healthy… Communication with fellow soldiers occurred without noticeable issues… Still no signs of other telepathic abilities, nor telekinetic powers’”.

He opened the other files, reading pretty much the same thing in all of them.

_Subject 03, male, 24 years old, 3 days._

_Subject 14, female, 31 years old, 12 days._

_Subject 32, male, 19 years old, 21 days._

With a thoughtful look on his face, Tony took a small flash drive from one of the compartments of his armor, putting it on the closes USB port he could find.

“Make a copy of everything, J., and put it on our private server”.

_Right away, sir._

“JARVIS, can you use these pictures to try and find something about these people on the internet?”

_Certainly, Captain. _And then, after a few seconds, a_ preliminary research has uncovered some results concerning Subjects 04, 13, 25 and 29. Shall I?_

“Go ahead, J.”

_Subject 04, aka Private David “Dave” Malloy, was recently recruited by the US military. I have found a Facebook post where his family and friends lament his premature death while on duty. He has been marked as KIA, in an operation gone wrong in Afghanistan._

_Subject 13, aka Private Camila Mendes, shares a similar tale. She was the only daughter of a single mother and her social media suggests that the recent enlistment was due to her inability to pay for college tuition. A local newspaper reported her death, again marked as KIA in an operation gone wrong, and, days later, the apparent suicide of her mother._

_Subjects 25 and 29, aka Lieutenant Colonels Louise and Randall Davis, joined the military together and served for 20 years. Their files are redacted, but it appears they both worked many years with General Thaddeus Ross. Their official current status is MIA, according to Facebook posts from friends and family, asking for prayers and thoughts so they’ll be found soon and can come home safely._

“Do a quick view of the videos, J. How did they die?”

_All subjects viewed died from self-inflicting wounds, saved for one event where the subjects turned on each other. The video shows five men in what appears to be a training facility. It is as if the subjects lost control of themselves and started attacking each other in a rather violent manner, sir. It is quite gruesome._

“So, they joined this crazy experiment, died because of it and Ross lied to their families and friends about what happened?” Steve asked in an angry tone.

“I guess saying ‘hey, we experimented on your kid and they ended up going crazy and killing themselves’ doesn’t have the same light tone as ‘they died honorably while killing innocents overseas’”.

_I have found many signed NDAs and documents stating the possible dangers of the procedures… Sir, I… I have found something I believe you should see._

The files were then suddenly replaced by a folder named ‘Subject 0’, containing various documents and videos. Tony clicked on one of them and started reading aloud, so Steve could listen as well.

_Olivia Kaufman, aka Subject 0. _

_Date of Birth: 03/08/1995._

_X-Gene carrier confirmed._

“What’s X-Gene?” Steve asked, confused.

“Do you remember what I told you about the X-Men? Mutants have this extra gene on the 23rd chromosome. Professor Xavier studied it for many years and called it the X-Gene”.

“She’s a mutant, then”.

Tony confirmed it with a nod and continued reading.

“It says here she started showing signs of telepathic and telekinetic powers at age seven, so they tested her to see how far the powers went. They talk about range and strength and possible ways to counter the power, discussing the validity of using some rare alloy, same as the one Magneto used on his helmet, and… drugs. Shit”.

“What?”

“They found a way to harvest her power. It says here they drugged her and took her blood, every single day. Then they gave her blood to other subjects, I’m guessing the soldiers we just read about before, hoping they’d have similar powers. They called it Project FEAR: First Enhanced Army Reserve”.

“That’s sick”, Steve complained, shaking his head in disgust.

“That’s not even the worst part. It also says she had a baby when she was fifteen. Artificial insemination. She carried the baby to term. Kid has yet to show any signs of having powers, though”.

“Shit. This is… This is insane, Tony. How could these people do this… and to a child as well”.

“That’s what the guy meant when he said they didn’t know, I guess. She’s killed the people who knew what was going on, the people who hurt her”.

“Then why hasn’t she left already?”

_“Because she’s not done yet”, _Bruce’s voice suddenly filled their ears, making both men jump.

“Damn, Brucie, forgot you were there”.

“_She wants to kill the men responsible for all this. She wants to kill Ross”._

“I’m tempted to just let her, if we’re being honest”, Tony said with a sigh, “I mean, what they did here? It’s just…”

“I know. But we have to stop her. Maybe with some guidance she could overcome all this. I’m sure the X-Men wouldn’t mind helping her”.

“We need to find her first. Come on, Jarvis has already made a copy of everything. We should meet up with Nat and Clint, see if they found anything”.

* * *

_Rooms_

“We’ve been searching for hours, there’s nothing here”.

“We’ve been searching for fifteen minutes at best”, Natasha replied, not turning around to look at her teammate, “Look, I know this whole ‘mind control’ thing is freaking you out, especially after Loki, but you have your wristband. She’s not going to control you, or any of us for that matter”.

“I guess”, Clint responded without much conviction.

Suddenly, they heard a scream. They exchanged a quick look before running towards the sound, breaking the door down. Inside the last room was a little girl, looking absolutely terrified. She was sitting in a corner, hiding her head on her knees, crying. In front of her, there was a man covered in blood, with clear shot wounds all over his torso. Natasha quickly leapt across the room, jumping on the man’s back and using both her Widow Bites right on his neck. It did nothing but piss him off. He used one of his arms to grab her and throw her across the room with a loud groan. She fell on a broken bed, immediately trying to get up as he turned his full attention towards her. She drew her gun and shot him. Once, twice, but nothing happened. Then, there was another shot. The man’s head exploded and he fell forward like a big sack of potatoes. Behind him was Clint, pointing his own gun while holding the little girl on his arms, her head buried on his neck as she trembled.

“Seriously, Nat? We’ve watched Dawn of the Dead a thousand times! Go for the head!”

Natasha sighed and got up, putting her gun back on its holster. “Is she ok?”

“A little scared, but she’ll be fine”, he replied, putting away his own gun and holding the girl a bit tighter, “Come one, there’s nothing left here. Let’s go”.

“You don’t seem all that freaked out by the fact that we were just attacked by what I can only assume is a zombie”.

“Trust me, I’m going to have a full meltdown once we’re back on the Quinjet. But right now, I’m trying to focus on getting the hell out of here”.

They jogged down the corridors and back to the starter point, where Steve and Tony were already waiting for them. They didn’t have time to talk, however, because as soon as they stepped inside the room, the bodies on the floor started to get up. Steve pushed them back with his shield while Tony used his blasters to keep them away. Natasha and Clint drew their guns once more, shooting anyone who dared to come too close.

“Go for the heads, Tony!” Clint screamed, and the engineer did as he was told, blasting the animated corpses with amazing agility.

It took them no longer than a minute to clear the room. The now headless bodies were once again scattered across the floor, unmoving.

Clint then broke the silence. “Have any of you EVER watched a zombie movie?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here. We have a lot to discuss”, he said, glancing at the little girl.

And so, they took the elevator up. It was time to find Ross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not very proud of this chapter, but it was the best I could do with three hours of sleep and a ton of work waiting for me. So, yeah. :(

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys like it! If you do, leave kudos and a comment, otherwise I'm going to show up in your room at midnight with a tray of chocolate chip cookies. Except... They're not really chocolate chips... They're raisins [plays the Psycho theme song].


End file.
